Conjugated linoleic acid isomers have differential effects on triglyceride secretion in Hep G2 cells

The effect of different conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) isomers (trans-10,cis-12 (t10,c12)-CLA and cis-9,trans-11 (c9,t11)-CLA), compared with oleic acid (OA) and linoleic acid (LA), on hepatic lipid synthesis and secretion were investigated in Hep G2 cells. The cells were incubated in a medium containing 1 mmol/l fatty acid–bovine serum albumin (BSA) complex for 5 h, with BSA alone as control. [3H]Glycerol and [14C]acetate were used to monitor lipid synthesis and secretion. The results show that cellular uptake rates of these fatty acids were similar. Incubation with OA, t10,c12-CLA, c9,t11-CLA and LA resulted in 6-, 4-, 2- and 1.8-fold increases in intracellular [3H]triglyceride ([3H]TG) compared with incubation with BSA alone. OA, LA and c9,t11-CLA increased [3H]TG secretion 3.6-, 2.5- and 1.2-fold above the control, whereas t10,c12-CLA markedly suppressed the secretion of [3H]TG. Hepatic secretion of TG mass increased 3.5-, 3.3-, 2.7- and 1.5-fold in the cells incubated with OA, LA, c9,t11-CLA and t10,c12-CLA, respectively. Since the secreted TG is mainly contained in very low density lipoproteins (VLDL), the decreased ([3H])TG secretion by t10,c12-CLA reflects a diminished secretion of VLDL. With respect to cholesterol synthesis OA was more effective in stimulating the incorporation of [14C]acetate into cellular total cholesterol followed in descending order by LA, c9,t11-CLA and t10,c12-CLA. In conclusion, the biological properties of 18-carbon fatty acids are clearly influenced by both the number and (geometric) positions of their double bonds. Furthermore t10,c12-CLA is more effective than c9,t11-CLA on suppressing hepatic TG secretion in vitro.